Minister Sklenár at EU Defence Ministerial in Spain with the spotlight on EU's next security priorities and support for Ukraine
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- Date: 30.08.2023
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As part of his working trip to Spain, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár attended the EU Defence Ministerial Meeting in Toledo. The meeting's sessions were dominated by the main themes such as supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia's aggression and the current tasks and new initiatives of the EU's common foreign, security and defence policy.
On the EU's initiative to speed up the procurement and delivery of artillery munitions to Ukraine, Slovakia sees the potential to extend the service life of artillery rounds. On this note, Minister Sklenár stressed the need for the EU countries to make their old artillery ammunition stocks available to the defence industry.
Speaking about the possible service life extension programme for artillery shells, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “In our opinion, from the perspective of time, this move would be fast and effective. Currently, this presents an unused opportunity that would significantly help fulfil the EUʼs ambition to send one million artillery shells to Ukraine.”
In addition to reviewing progress on the EU's ammunition initiative, Ministers confirmed the goal of training at least 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of this year. Most importantly, the EU remains committed to training Ukrainian troops as long as necessary.
Building the EU Rapid Deployment Capacity (EU RDC), approved by EU Defence Ministers in March 2023, was another topic on the agenda of the meeting as a priority of the Strategic Compass. The aim of EU RDC is to increase the EU's ability to deploy a force on an international crisis management operation, for example, in a situation requiring the evacuation of European nationals.
During the European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen) Ministerial Board meeting, Minister Sklenár underlined SatCen's role in supporting Ukraine and expressed Slovakia's support for strengthening its operational capacity.
On EU SatCen, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “Among other things, we also talked about the challenges for the future of SatCen in the context of the recently approved strategic documents, such as the Strategic Compass or the Space Strategy for Security and Defence. This agency has an important role to play in providing geospatial intelligence analysis. For example, in a matter of hours, it can provide an analysis of satellite images and support the EU and its member statesʼ national institutions in decision-making on the basis of a specific situation in a given area.”
On the EU's initiative to speed up the procurement and delivery of artillery munitions to Ukraine, Slovakia sees the potential to extend the service life of artillery rounds. On this note, Minister Sklenár stressed the need for the EU countries to make their old artillery ammunition stocks available to the defence industry.
Speaking about the possible service life extension programme for artillery shells, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “In our opinion, from the perspective of time, this move would be fast and effective. Currently, this presents an unused opportunity that would significantly help fulfil the EUʼs ambition to send one million artillery shells to Ukraine.”
In addition to reviewing progress on the EU's ammunition initiative, Ministers confirmed the goal of training at least 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers by the end of this year. Most importantly, the EU remains committed to training Ukrainian troops as long as necessary.
Building the EU Rapid Deployment Capacity (EU RDC), approved by EU Defence Ministers in March 2023, was another topic on the agenda of the meeting as a priority of the Strategic Compass. The aim of EU RDC is to increase the EU's ability to deploy a force on an international crisis management operation, for example, in a situation requiring the evacuation of European nationals.
During the European Union Satellite Centre (EU SatCen) Ministerial Board meeting, Minister Sklenár underlined SatCen's role in supporting Ukraine and expressed Slovakia's support for strengthening its operational capacity.
On EU SatCen, Defence Minister Martin Sklenár said: “Among other things, we also talked about the challenges for the future of SatCen in the context of the recently approved strategic documents, such as the Strategic Compass or the Space Strategy for Security and Defence. This agency has an important role to play in providing geospatial intelligence analysis. For example, in a matter of hours, it can provide an analysis of satellite images and support the EU and its member statesʼ national institutions in decision-making on the basis of a specific situation in a given area.”
